44 Sunsets

But on your tiny planet, my little prince, all you need to do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like…“One day,” you said to me, “I saw the sunset forty-four times!”

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Life can be stressful, exhausting and difficult. Life can also be wonderful, magnificent and beautiful. Yesterday, as I sat by the fire, reading The Little Prince to my daughter, the above passage jumped right off the page at me.

Some things we can control and some things we can’t. But do our students know this? Do our teachers? Do we?

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

Viktor E. Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning

Like the polar vortex that has effected much of the northeast this past week, a school is a whirling vortex that, once formed can move, stretch, twist, and interact in complex ways.

We certainly can not control a vortex, but we can control the positioning of our chair. And we can teach our students and colleagues to do the same. We must! I hasten to mention that some of the students we see every day experience very few sunsets.

For those students that don’t have the good fortune of experiencing multiple sunsets at home, we must provide sunsets for them at school. Lots of them. This can be done through literature, love and perspective. We must teach them how to look for the beauty in even the tiniest of moments. Sometimes sharing a good joke may be a “sunset moment”. Other times simply listening to a child may cause them to have a “sunset moment”.

There will also be children that come into our classrooms like a ray of light each and every day. With no reason whatsoever except for the fact that they love life. We must teach these children to teach others, and teach us, how it is they are able to move their chair so easily, such that they experience sunsets all of the time. They are a gift that we must cherish.

Hip hop artist Pharrell Williams is probably best known this year for the Grammy nominated hit Blurred Lines, which he produced and helped sing. I would contend that his best work came in the form of his website 24 Hours of Happy http://24hoursofhappy.com/ and his song Rainy Days which can be found on the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack. More specifically the lyrics below, from Rainy Days have a lot to teach us about finding joy when it may not seem nearby.

This rainy day is temporary The contrast is why we got him ‘Cause sunshine due is just a cloud away…

Rainy Days by Pharrell Williams from Despicable Me 2

So, because I wrote this piece does that mean that I am an expert on sunsets? Not at all. I am currently up to about 10 or 15 a day. But, I will continue to shoot for 44 because I know it is possible. I know it is possible because I have the pleasure of seeing it every day with my own two children.

From them I learn much. From them I learn how to find the joy in life. And for that I am forever grateful.

Jon I love this message. I try to find something positive to say to every child who walks by me every morning. Some hear it and some don’t. I hope that someone else in her or his day can give a sunset. I know you don’t see yourself as an expert but I regularly use you as an example of how we can just choose to be positive about things. I use your fun descriptions of the lunch items as an example. Not that you are making fun of the cafeteria but that you can take the monotonous task of reading the announcements and make them fun to listen to. Thanks for my sunset today!

Speaking Appearances

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Podcast Appearances

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“I absolutely loved Jon visiting our campus. He worked incredibly well with our students and staff and really shared great personal stories that connected with all. Days after Jon leaving, our students were still talking about the lessons they learned. Jon is a dynamic speaker who moves people. I would recommend him coming into any campus!”

Todd Nesloney, Principal Webb Elementary

“With a strikingly open and authentic perspective, Jon Harper takes the ordinary events of working in education and makes them extraordinary. He creates a reflective atmosphere which challenges full-time working graduate students to step back and find the silver lining in their own classroom mistakes. Harper’s approach on addressing personal mistakes is genuinely designed to work for educators at all levels in their career to make them a more meaningful educator.”

Brian Cook, Salisbury University

“Jon Harper, host of My Bad, spoke with our new teachers the other night. It was a roller coaster ride of emotion—we laughed, we cried, but most of all we thought about the students we work with everyday. His focus on being authentic and allowing our students to learn from their mistakes, as opportunities to grow, was exactly what our educators needed. Jon’s work is one of the best workshops I have participated in during my 23-year career.”

James P. Redman, Talbot County Curriculum Supervisor & former principal

“Jon Harper excels at getting to the heart of issues that impact us as professionals. The power of Jon’s presentation lies in his ability to expose his inner self to his audience to model the fact that showing our vulnerability can propel us forward rather than backward. He is genuine and purposeful in his thoughts, words, and actions and all audiences could benefit from hearing Jon speak.”